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Navellier’s “My #1 Stock to Buy Today”

Looking for the second stock pitched by Ultimate Growth this week

Yesterday we looked at one of the stocks Navellier has been pitching for his Ultimate Growth service, and today I’m moving on, as promised, to look at the second pick.

And perhaps I should have swapped the order, since the ad actually called this one his “#1 Stock to Buy Today”… but, well, it seemed to me that the other one was a more interesting story to begin to investigate.

The big idea is that there’s a big “sell the news” reaction to the fact that the “Trump Trade” and its easy money is over, as the Republicans failed to deliver on the big healthcare reform promise on their first run around the track, but that the “Trump Trade” is not over, and Navellier thinks there’s a good buying opportunity in his favorite growth stocks.

Here’s a little taste of the ad, so you can see how he puts it:

“Some of the biggest winners of the original ‘Trump Trade’ are getting hammered. Financials, Energy, Industrials and Materials all have taken big hits. While new stocks and sectors are ready to take the lead.

“I want to help you take advantage of this huge shift right away, with a new crop of under-the-radar stocks ready to make their move.

“This little Trump Tantrum the market is having is a great chance to grab my top picks at good prices.”

Navellier says that his focus is on “AAA-Rated” stocks with spectacular earnings growth, spectacular sales growth, a history of positive earnings surprises, and a reasonable PE — we did notice that yesterday’s stock, Ubiquiti Networks (UBNT), actually fell within Navellier’s own quantitative system from an “A” rating to a “B” rating after a rough February… but let’s see what this latest stock is and how it shapes up.

Here are our first hints:

“My #1 pick right now is probably a company you haven’t heard of… and that’s a good thing.

“If you’re like most Americans, you’re fortunate enough to get your health insurance through your employer or that of your spouse.

“But if you’re one of the millions of people who are small business owners, freelancers, unemployed or without an employer-based plan, then there’s a good chance you’ve been exposed to my #1 under-the-radar stock.

“That’s because my #1 pick is a health insurance company that’s made a killing thanks to Obamacare. This company provides an online platform that connects in real time licensed insurance agents with people seeking a health insurance plan.”

OK, so this is one that has benefited from Obamacare… presumably that means it also benefits from the fact that the Republicans failed to revise Obamacare last month, though there’s always the risk that they might do so on their next try. Any other clues?

“Thanks in part to the 20 million new insurance consumers brought in by Obamacare, this company’s numbers have been surging.

“In its FY16 fourth quarter the company reported revenue that soared more than 50% year-over-year to $51.4 million. Adjusted earnings also surged a whopping 250%… from $0.10 a share a year ago to $0.35 a share in 2016.

“Compared to what analysts were expecting, those numbers represented a stunning 94% earnings surprise.”

And, as we might have guessed from that lead-in, the stock peaked back in January when Trump hopes for a health care shakeup were highest… but has come down a bit since. This is what Navellier says about it:

“But this stock’s success is NOT tied to Obamacare. Whether we keep Obamacare or end up with Trumpcare, Ryancare or something else…tens of millions of American will still be shopping for insurance plans and this company stands to profit.

“Thanks to Congress, you now have a second change to get into my #1 pick at a great price… and I think there are plenty more gains to come.”

So… hoodat? Thinkolator sez we’re dealing with: Health Insurance Innovations (HIIQ), a small cap insurance company that primarily uses call centers and an ecommerce program to sell various types of health insurance, some of which they seem to have custom-developed with their carrier partners (they call themselves a “Managing Underwriter, a Third-Party Administrator, and an Active Technology company.”)

And you can see why this caught the eye of Navellier’s quantitative system — last year was a phenomenal one for them, both in terms of overall revenue and earnings growth and in terms of “earnings beats”, with four quarters in a row of results that were reported as dramatically better than analysts had expected (yes, they did beat analyst estimates by 94% in the most recent quarter — but the previous three were far more dramatic, with beats of 200%, 350%, and 467%).

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That tells you that they either ramped up much faster than expected, did something else to fairly dramatically change the company without the analysts noticing right away, or, perhaps, that the analysts just don’t know how to estimate results for this one.

The company has come back down a bit from that January high of around $20, and certainly the political debate is having an impact on all the health insurers and related firms… but the dip is also probably partly in response to their secondary offering that hit about a month ago, right after they announced their latest “blowout” quarter.

That secondary was not about raising money for the company, which seems to be able to self-finance at this point (they don’t have much cash, but neither do they have any meaningful debt, and last year the cash from operations easily covered their capital needs), but about letting their founder, Michael Kosloske, cash out his holdings at the suddenly much higher share price (the stock was down near $3 last Summer, the founder sold in this secondary at about $14). That was a substantial and meaningful insider sale, netting Kosloske about $40 million from a company that has a market cap of only about $270 million.

HIIQ seems to specialize in “flexible” insurance plans — short-term medical coverage, limited benefit plans or fixed indemnity benefits for hospitalization or sickness, ancillary insurance programs like “fill the gap” insurance, dental, etc. I suppose they might benefit from a substantial relaxation of the insurance rules, since the flexible insurance plans that don’t meet the Obamacare mandates in terms of quality or scope of coverage might pick up if those mandates are relaxed, but that’s not at all an expert opinion.

In financial terms, the stock looks pretty compelling — it trades at a trailing PE of about 27, but a forward PE of 10 — but I can’t get myself to be all that interested given the significant regulatory uncertainty. I find myself looking back to the last “alternative health care” stock that I covered a pitch for, HealthEquity (HQY), and finding that one a little more comforting… if only because it has some compounding power thanks to the recurring and sticky nature of the Health Savings Accounts management fees, but in this environment I can’t convince myself to commit to any of the companies who have such specific exposure to regulatory change in the health insurance business.

In part, that’s skepticism comes because I’ve only looked very briefly at this one so far (as I do with most teaser pitches, just enough to get a basic picture so I can write them up quickly for you), and it’s easier to be skeptical when you’ve seen only the broad outlines and not had a chance to dig in and “buy” the story. If you’d like to see a bit more detail about how the business works, they do have an investor presentation up on their site here. They’re still very, very small, with only 300,000 or so policies in force as of the end of last year (generating $185 million in revenue), so there’s certainly room to grow if they can continue to surge like they did in 2016.

Your opinion may well vary, of course, and I had never looked into HIIQ before today. If you’ve some thoughts on this one to share, or thoughts on the health insurance marketplace in general, feel free to illuminate us with a comment below.

P.S. Just remembered that I noted the public version of Navellier’s UBNT grading yesterday, so I should do the same for HIIQ today… interestingly enough, like UBNT, HIIQ was recently downgraded by Navellier’s Portfolio Grader from an A to a B (like UBNT, it’s still listed as a “buy”).

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H. Thompson
H. Thompson
April 4, 2017 10:45 am

As a professional editor & proofreader, I’ve been impressed with how well-written your analyses are. Today, however, there were three clear grammatical typos – you mention “writing them up quickly”, and I believe this time you really did! That is not to denigrate your scholarship or intelligent analysis, which I am finding invaluable. (Although the frequent language errors & poor writing I find in, for example, Motley Fool Canada and Contrarian Outlook emails makes me doubt that they are smart enough to be giving me worthwhile financial advice. Professional presentation matters!)

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v4t1n4
April 4, 2017 12:55 pm

Autocorrect – AAAAAAARRRRRGH! It’s all over my gmail addy, it’s in my TD WebBroker with ticker symbols, ditto Yahoo Finance. Their lame excuse that it offers a choice of ‘x’ing the suggestion belies the incredible annoyance it engenders in having to deal with it every.single.time Not to mention the inconvenience, even the many dangerous possibilities, in missing a correction. HOW can we get them to do away with this pox?

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muttlee
Member
muttlee
April 4, 2017 2:31 pm

I don’t envy the brain that is forever compelled to “hone in” on an occasional grammatical glitch, especially when there is so much information to gleen. Your refreshing wit and writing style, along with your invaluable research, is not only extremely helpful but very entertaining! Autocorrect is never 100% and in this case a highly irrelevant and petty concern. Your time and attention are too valuable for that! You are greatly appreciated, thank you!

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connyank
connyank
April 5, 2017 2:11 pm

As a one time “wire operator” for a major firm, I can attest to errors made in stock symbols and the havoc it can play – from my point of view, it was fun, in a maudlin way – when a broker erred, he had to eat it. Transpositions were a little diferent from typos – sudden runs on MSFT could create short term moves in MFST (I think that was the symbol – current owner Medifast doesn’t ring a bell, though).

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isight
April 4, 2017 12:21 pm
Reply to  H. Thompson

A WORD OF ADVICE, H. THOMPSON. Pedantry may be of some limited help to a proof reader, but a good editor has no use for condescension.

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Phil
Guest
Phil
April 4, 2017 12:41 pm
Reply to  H. Thompson

I didn’t realize motley fool had a ‘canada’ division.

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J. Harvey
Member
J. Harvey
May 9, 2017 1:48 pm
Reply to  H. Thompson

Your modesty is underwhelming. Dr. Crane.

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SageNot
Guest
SageNot
April 4, 2017 11:09 am

Geez H.T. I’m a 20yr.+ Wall St. veteran & not once has a grammatical error caused a stock to drop or rise IMHO! What are you smoking?

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Bill McKennitt
April 4, 2017 2:04 pm

Company seems to have a lot of complaints and may not be acceptable under Obamacare
https://www.complaintboard.com/health-insurance-innovations-complaints-l16946.html

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Reality Man
Guest
Reality Man
April 4, 2017 5:11 pm

I’ve made 31.54% in four months on HIIQ. It was an isolated case of a stock that showed well in VectorVest (which I no longer use) performing well in my portfolio.

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John
Member
John
April 4, 2017 5:53 pm

I don’t trust Navellier ever since he touted Gold to go to 5000 5 year ago..and it tanked!

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John
Member
John
April 4, 2017 5:55 pm

For someone so concerned about mistakes,they probably aren’t focusing on the real research and invaluable information that Travis gives.

Andrew
Member
April 4, 2017 9:04 pm

Overall the articles here are very well written, wish i could say the same, anyway as far as Insurance stocks go seem to be picking up globally, http://eqibeat.com/top-40-global-big-cap-adrs-dividend-yield-apr/

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curiousjoe
curiousjoe
April 4, 2017 10:57 pm

Those who don’t have the time or patience to go through the verbose blatheration (tautology?) skillfully assembled by Travis are encouraged to go irregular for a small fee. Irregulars are rewarded by a synopsis of the tease resolution at the top. Hopefully, the synopsis is 100% syntax and spelling error-free 100% of the time. 🙂

Of course, some of us irregulars still read through the blatheration for more details and entertainment.

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LostOkie
LostOkie
April 4, 2017 11:13 pm

Been long HQY since $17.50. Thanks for backing up my comfort in owning it. I think! Kinda hard to tell. HAHAHA

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Michael Orwin
Guest
Michael Orwin
April 5, 2017 8:54 am

There’s recent regulation likely to affect HIIQ’s revenue. From the 10-K, all short term medical (STM) plans submitted before April 1, 2017 must terminate no later than December 31, 2017, and from April 1, 2017 new STM plans had to last less then three months. “The impact of the HHS rule could reduce revenues related to STM in the future.” I’m guessing the rule might be to avoid plans clashing with new legislation if ‘Obamacare’ is replaced. In the earnings call, management implied that lost STM business would transfer to their hospital indemnity, and they were optimistic about the total market opportunity. I tend to be wary of such optimism unless I believe I can trust management, and I didn’t know about HIIQ before Travis unteased it so I can’t say management are trustworthy. I can’t find any disclosure of how big the Short Term Medical insurance is, in terms of revenue or earnings. The segment information section in the 10-K says there’s just a single reportable segment, with no breakdown.

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schubrrw3212
July 20, 2017 2:23 pm

Wow, guys! Travis, thanks for the coverage. Hey, Michael, thanks a bunch for reading that 10-K! I’m new to this thread. Just started another one, because Matthew McCall over at startup NexGen Investor was teasing HIIQ along with his charter memberships for 90 bucks, and I was too bloody cheap to waste 90 bucks to learn the answer before I exhausted some free Google searches and found out the stock is HIIQ. What’s interesting here is the fact that HHS lacks the authority to go in and create an actual Insurance Monopoly by impairing the private right of contract (this might be a US Constitution problem for them to do outright), so instead it nitpicks on the specific verbiage that competitors are allowed to use when offering/ bundling/reinsuring policies. No wonder I see so many Range Rovers on K Street in DC…them lobbyists git paid good money to trade all that influence. The persnickety thing about the Obamacare debate, is that the Bush-and-Christie-type Beltway Republicans don’t want to discuss the details of how Obamacare can be bankrupt but the insurers went from $6B annual profits to $15B annual profits, and TEA party upstart Rand Paul is speculating that the proposed $100B bailout he got 3 other senators to vote against this week, could turn that into a $30B annual profit. The Dems, who style themselves as the anti-corruption party when they aren’t actually making money on the corruption, are as preoccupied about Russia, Russia, Russia these days, as the R’s were in the ’90’s about Bill and Hillary’s Whitewater land deal that lost money. Anyhow, there’s a second big piece of the health insurance puzzle that’s missing, which is why the Roman Catholic bishops suddenly shut the hell up about what Obamacare was to be replaced-with. Them bishops’ churches and religious orders own a bunch of hospitals and maintain them as 501(c)(3)’s, whose profits aren’t even called profits, but are called “retained earnings”. When a 501(c)(3) nonprofit retains some of it’s earnings this tax year and banks it over into next tax year, it pays a 3% Retained Earnings Tax to do that. But if an ordinary corporation does the same damned thing, it pays a 35% Corporate Income Tax for doing that. So it’s not hard to see that a hospital business wants to stay a charity and not fall into the legal definition of a for-profit corporation, or it takes a big hit on the capital it raises. Now, stay with me on this concept, it’ll take a few more words to explain it: If a person comes to a charity and asks for help, and the charity demands to be paid a profit, that pretty much is what would trigger the charity to be called a for-profit business and whacked upside the head with the 2×4 that is a 35% tax. So these hospitals have to give away something charitable to somebody, or else they’re in deep doo-doo with the IRS. (The Shriners’ Hospitals avoided this problem by never charging fees to the patients they accept for treatment. All their funds are raised by fundraisers. Therefore there’s no argument over their legal status.) When LBJ inherited the White House in ’63, the typical hospital charged fees to most people, and for poor people who claimed they couldn’t afford to pay the fees, they gave a 50% discount and zero-interest payment terms. When the person eventually died, any unpaid balance got charged against the dead person’s estate, until the money was gone. LBJ’s Medicare plan offered to pay the hospitals that discounted 50% out of the Social Security surplus (this is back when there used to be one) so they could have their money now instead of wait for it. That stopped the hospitals from losing money (sometimes, there wasn’t anything in an old person’s estate but an empty booze bottle and some stinky clothing on top of a smelly mattress) and it gave the probate lawyers fewer people to fight with and a better chance of recovering enough money from a dead person’s estate to pay their fees, but for hospitals, that blurred the distinction between Poor People who couldn’t afford full fare, and Everyone Else who paid full fare. Rather quickly, Medigap policies emerged, and employers gave them out as retirement benefits, guaranteeing that once one hit retirement age, one’s hospital bills got covered by somebody. Medicaid then got invented, and now there’s a pretty convenient definition of the difference between a charity hospital and a for-profit hospital: If it won’t treat Medicaid patients and lose a little money on that, it’s a for-profit business that gets whacked with that 35% tax 2×4. So it’s in this context that I see the real product that HIIQ may be selling. It’s possible for a person who can’t afford the price of what the Affordable Care Act bureaucracy has decided to call an “affordable” insurance policy, to simply buy term healthcare coverage, 2 months at a time, and then pay the IRS a Penalty Tax that’s assessed on individuals for the offense of Not Being Able To Afford an Affordable Care Act Policy. The advantage for the insurer, of selling term instead of whole-life coverage, is that there’s a distinct chance the person won’t get sick during the 2 months, which pays the insurer a profit in those 2 months. The advantage for the insured, is that insurance coverage starts immediately. He or she doesn’t go uninsured until January, just because that’s when the next sign-up period happens. The trouble here hits at the hospital level: Since these 2-month policies can have very high deductibles, a person who does get sick, can get in the hospital, get out, owe the hospital seven or eight grand that they don’t have in savings, and then have a legal hissyfit with the hospital over collection. A lot of states prohibit health professionals from charging interest on their fees, so any money a hospital loses on interest payments, while it waits around to collect on those payment plans, is effectively a charitable service done for people who couldn’t afford Affordable insurance. Now, it seems to me that someone could package together a sinking fund, composed of negative-interest Euro bonds and these money-losing zero-interest debts owed to hospitals, arbitrage it against the dollar-euro currency trade, and have a tradable financial product for folks hell-bent on quick gains when the dollar and euro make big swings. It ain’t really a solution to politics, but it would be a way to lose a known amount of money over time. Instead of an unknown amount of money over time.

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wonton
wonton
April 5, 2017 1:58 pm

Commentary from Barron’s on HIIY is noted below:
“Our present rating dates to March 21, 2017, when it was downgraded from a BUY. Relative to the Insurance Brokers/Services sub-industry, which is comprised of 14 companies, Health Insurance Innovations, Inc. Class A’s grade of 57.3 ranks third. The industry grade leader is Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. (MMC) with an overall grade of 69.7. The stock, up 186.23% in the last six months, has outperformed both the Insurance Brokers/Services group, up 12.77% and the S&P 500 Index, which has returned 9.35% in the same period.”

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crossroads49
crossroads49
April 9, 2017 1:15 pm

Question:If analysts are so wrong when estimating a company’s earnings, why does anyone pay any attention to them?

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Guest
Member
Guest
August 6, 2017 4:02 pm

Navallier’s Portfolio grader rates HIIQ as an A today

tlaster11
tlaster11
August 14, 2017 6:58 pm

Many complaints to various regulators and agencies. At least two states issued cease and desist orders. They do not offer qualifying coverage to shield one from the penalty in the ACA. Better avoid this one.

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